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A teen who ate mushrooms and drank a tea made from the fungi shot himself in the forehead so he could wake up from a nightmare he said he was having while awake, sheriff's investigators said.

The strange incident occurred Tuesday. Deputies were called to Florida Hospital DeLand at 5:54 p.m. Tuesday where they found Steve Tilbury, 17, with a .22-caliber bullet hole in the center of his forehead, investigators said.

Tilbury told investigators he and some friends ate mushrooms and drank a tea made from the substance Tuesday afternoon. His friends left his house shortly after and he fell asleep.

"Tilbury said he woke up and it felt like it wasn't real," deputies wrote in the report.

Tilbury told investigators he felt like he was awake in a bad nightmare and could not escape from his house.

"Tilbury said he thought if he shot himself he would wake up from the bad dream," investigators said.

The teen told deputies he walked into his parents' bedroom and got a .22-caliber rifle. He then went back to his own bedroom, sat down on his bed, put the butt of the gun on the floor, removed the safety and fired once into his own forehead.

"He said after he shot himself he didn't wake up from the bad dream," the report states.

Tilbury tried to clean the blood that got on the carpet, wrapped a bandage around his head and walked outside. He saw a man who he asked to take him to the hospital.

A deputy asked Tilbury if he wanted to kill himself and he said, "No, I just wanted to wake up from the bad nightmare. I am happy and I love my life."

A deputy collected the bullet a doctor removed from Tilbury's forehead.

not with a .22 I've heard more then a few stories about attempted suicides with a .22 The bullet penetrates the roof of the mouth and lodges in the nose. It could possibly lethal against the temple, but the mechanics of a rifle prevent that in most cases, same with a shot to the heart, though once again, the likelyhood of lethal penetration is pretty small, more likely then not it will get stuck in a rib.

not with a .22 I've heard more then a few stories about attempted suicides with a .22 The bullet penetrates the roof of the mouth and lodges in the nose. It could possibly lethal against the temple, but the mechanics of a rifle prevent that in most cases, same with a shot to the heart, though once again, the likelyhood of lethal penetration is pretty small, more likely then not it will get stuck in a rib.

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That would be correct about a bullet getting lodged in the hard portion of the forehead before entering the cranium. However, when a .22 caliber round enters the chest cavity it will ricochet tearing threw all the soft tissue while it bounces off bones. An absolute mess for surgeons and high potential for a fatality.

I don't understand why his friends all took the same drugs as him, then decided to ditch him. Was he already on his way to wigging out therefore scaring his friends? Something just doesn't add up.

Is that only at close range? I've heard stories of people getting shot with a .22 and it being stopped by their clothes or just under the skin. I was always under the impression that anything larger then a rabbit was pretty save from such a small bullet.

I have heard of that with .25, potter. But a .22 will definitely penetrate flesh and clothing, but will ricochet around the soft tissue in a belly like godztear said.
Lots of people survive attempted murder w .22 cal, unless it is a temple shot or base of skull, like in mafia movies, lol. But a gut shot .22 can be worse than a gut shot .32

Aren't there laws about secure storage of firearms? Why was a minor left unattended in a house with a loaded weapon readily accessible? Aren't the parents technically criminally liable for allowing him unsupervised access to the gun? His mother declined to comment? No kidding!

On the plus side at least he turned the gun on himself (fortunately very unsuccessfully) rather than some unsuspecting victim. Would've been a whole lot sadder if some innocent person was harmed as a result of this silly chain of events.

^^Two very good points. It must have been one hell of a trip but I still wonder where the kid got the idea from, that shooting yourself is sure method of waking you up from a bad dream?

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If you google "nightmare wake up", the first result is "wikihow.com", here's a condensed version of the page:

How to Wake Up from Your Dream

Have you ever been in a lucid dream, which quickly transforms into a nightmare? Even when you are aware that you are dreaming, sometimes it is at such a low level that you can't manipulate what is happening. Most people have had dreams like this, but if they happen too often, here's how to wake up.

Steps:
1..
<snip>
5..Tips:

..

..

When dying in your dream, a good amount of the time, right before you die in the dream, you wake up in real life.

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Next time, he should maybe try the Somebody pinch me! approach first...

Added: about the bullet (yes I want to speculate too! ), .22 is unlikely to be used for hunting, and for self-defense a 12 gauge or pistol would be more appropriate, so maybe this was used for indoor or garden target practice. DeLand has a population density of 1536 / sq mi, so unless you'd want the cops at your door, you better use quiet ammo, like the .22 CB that has almost no charge apart from the primer, a muzzle velocity of 350 to 700 ft/s and hardly makes any noise.

Tripping alone isn't smart.. not sure how I managed to keep my cool on those 10 strips I used to gobble up when I was a kid.. I usually worked out like a mad man and made huge Wu-Tang symbols with those glow in the dark stars to keep myself busy.. I couldn't conceive of doing such a thing all these years later.. Too many adult worries and fears floating around in my noggin for such a thing to be safe for anyone.

Hopefully when he looks in the mirror he will be reminded of this and stay far away from psychedelics. Some people simply shouldn't explore altered consciousnesses.

I'm not a weapon expert but...aren't you suposed to die when you shout yourself in the head?

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Just wondering if it is an air rifle, because we used .22s to put cows down in South Africa. A single shot between the eyes and it was lights out. He either missed or skiffed, but the doctor says they removed the bullet from his forehead. It has to be an air rifle in that case.

Never underestimate the lethality of a .22 rimfire subsonic or supersonic, it has huge richochet danger due to being unjacketed and of lower velocity to centrefire and makes a nasty mess when mushroomed.

I have to say - especially in light of the "bath salts cannibal" debacle - that sounds like just the sort of detail that cops and reporters habitually exclude in order to make stories politically "useful." It would also explain why the article doesn't address the miraculous nature of his suffering only a minor cosmetic blemish from a point-blank gunshot wound to his forehead.

Just wondering if it is an air rifle, because we used .22s to put cows down in South Africa. A single shot between the eyes and it was lights out. He either missed or skiffed, but the doctor says they removed the bullet from his forehead. It has to be an air rifle in that case.

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This was my immediate thought. You can easily kill a rabbit or a squirrel from some distance with a .22 air rifle... Never tried a cow though.

In the case of a 'real' rifle, isn't the discharge of heat and pressure from the muzzle alone, enough to cause serious injury? Would he not have suffered extreme burns aswell? I heard people have died from the misuse of blank firers this way.

I'm so glad the kid is alive to tell the story though. My first impression was... Well, the same as everyones probably.

It's worth noting here that .22 refers to the diameter of the bullet, not necessarily the force behind it. Rifles are available in .22 Short, .22 Long, and even .22 Magnum (and probably more), each with more gunpowder then the last. When it comes to penetration (and therefor lethality) it comes down to the velocity of the bullet, as this is actually a larger factor in killing power then size or mass is; if you double the mass of a bullet then the kinetic energy doubles, but if you double the velocity of a bullet, the kinetic energy quadrouples. The M-16, for example, uses a bullet that is only .223, but the force behind it is were the damage come from.

^ Exactly this... I mean, obviously there is a limit on muzzle velocity in the UK. In fact, it takes some shopping around to find something that performs properly... plenty of 'Gimmicky' air guns out there that would struggle to keep up with a wet fart.

That being said; I wouldn't fancy my chances being shot in the head with a decent .22 Airgun... Do you know if there are 'Gimmicky' powder cartridge guns available which might under-perform to such an extent?

^ I'm imagining some poorly built target rifle aimed at young kids and their parents?

Though, as has been said above; due to the fact that no shots were reported to the Police - I wonder if it was an Airgun?

It's worth noting here that .22 refers to the diameter of the bullet, not necessarily the force behind it. Rifles are available in .22 Short, .22 Long, and even .22 Magnum (and probably more), each with more gunpowder then the last. When it comes to penetration (and therefor lethality) it comes down to the velocity of the bullet, as this is actually a larger factor in killing power then size or mass is; if you double the mass of a bullet then the kinetic energy doubles, but if you double the velocity of a bullet, the kinetic energy quadrouples. The M-16, for example, uses a bullet that is only .223, but the force behind it is were the damage come from.

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right, right and right. i shoot .22 80 percent of the time i got to the shooting range, mostly because regular .22 long rifle is extremely cheap. the variety of .22 ammo out there varies really widely in range from grain, to jacketing, hollow point, magnum, velocity.

my guess is this person used a low velocity hollow point, mid 30's grain round. not a lot of power, and with the point being hollow, it does not have the power to pierce the skull bone. if he shot himself in the gut or something it the bullet would mushroom and do a ton of damage, or if i had been a magnum round (about a 45 grain bullet) it would have gone through the skull most likely and then mushroomed. hollow point are designed to break apart on contact instead of just shooting a hole through someone, it does more damage by breaking apart.

my pistol can shoot regular .22 long rifle, and most bulk rounds are made as hollow points for whatever reason. they vary in grain weight from 36 to 40 grains. when i keep my revolver in my home for protection i use a different firing cylinder, the magnum cylinder is different than the long rifle one (its the same as a luger .22 revolver but made by a older company) and keep .22 magnum ammo in it, and it has a polymer tip, which is similar to a hollow point but the polymer allows the slug to continue into flesh deeper.

.22 is not something to think of as a "pea shooter", yes it is not as powerful as 99 percent of other rounds, but thats like saying getting ran over by a geo metro is better than a bus. of course it is but both are very very capable of killing you, in the case of the .22 variables it would be comparing to how fast the car is running you over, how tall you are, what angle, ect ect ect, its all bad and yes if you have really big legs you may just roll over the top of the car, but if not you may go under, which do you prefer, neither.

ill take someone who knows how to shoot a .22 over someone with a 50 cal desert eagle who has been to the range maybe once any day of the week.